Dance
by NovelistServant
Summary: UPDATED. When Ford buys Mabel a pair of tap-dance shoes at an arts-and-crafts fair, Mabel shows her appreciation for the gift by dancing and doesn't think she can stop. Literally. Season 3 idea. I DO NOT own the cover image. It was made by Skaleigha at DeviantArt.


Ford smiled down at his niece as she ran ahead of he and Dipper in downtown Gravity Falls. Mabel had been looking forward to this all week and grinned as this area of the town was filled with colorful booths, games, music, and many different genres of original art. Half of the folks there were townies while the other half were travelers. Candy Chu's mother was selling homemade Asian fans and Manly Dan was selling wooden sculptures. Mabel probably could have sold some sweaters today, but she said her sweaters weren't for money (Stan nearly fainted over hearing his pumpkin say that) and that if anyone wanted one, all they had to do was ask.

Dipper admired a girl's landscapes and actually talked to her. She was Dipper's age and had rose-gold hair with beads around her neck a homemade tie-dye t-shirt on, but she blushed over Dipper's compliments and soon Ford rolled his eyes and decided to stick with Mabel to let Dipper attempt to flirt without prying eyes.

Mabel was admiring from stain-glass with shining eyes when Ford joined her and also admired a wind chime made with colored glass. "Thanks for taking me to the arts-and-crafts fair, Grunkle Ford."

"You're welcome, my dear." Ford ruffled the brunette's beautiful hair and smiled down at her. "It's nice to see you in your element."

Mabel smiled and was then distracted by a booth full of homemade clay-pots. Ford followed her and watched. There was something enjoyable about watching a loved one being so happy. Ford had, in his opinion, done a horrible job bonding with Mabel last summer (looking for wormholes and painting hand-turkeys just wasn't enough), so Ford made it a goal of his this summer to spend more time with his only niece. He did find her company incredibly refreshing and loved her unique weirdness. Mabel made Ford smile like no one else and she gave the best hugs in the world.

After a few minutes of browsing, they reached the circle where a Scottish band was playing bagpipes, drums, and even a violin. A couple of people were dancing around the square, but most were just enjoying the music as they shopped or watched.

"Wow, listen!" Mabel awed. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the live music.

Ford hummed in satisfaction and said, "You would have loved it up north, Mabel. Nearly every town Stan and I visited had music playing in the streets." Ford and Stan had talked to the younger pair of twins all school-year via email and video-chats and text messages, updating them on the places the old sailors had been to, but they all agreed that it would have been better if the kids could see it themselves. Maybe one day.

Mabel started to tap her feet to the music, and then she grabbed Ford's hand. "C'mon, let's dance!"

Ford was rigid and kept his feet planted firmly on the ground, despite Mabel's gentle tug. "What?! Mabel, no, I… I don't dance."

"Whaaaat?" Mabel asked with a smile and stopped tugging on her uncle and just held his hand. "Grunkle Stan dances."

"Well I'm not him, as much as I might look like him." Ford said a little coldly, so he added a little warmer, "I just wouldn't feel comfortable with everyone watching."

"No one would care, Grunkle Ford, please." Mabel begged and even brought out her puppy-eyes.

Ford stiffened over the eyes that shine like stars, but the idea of dancing made the old scientist excruciatingly uncomfortable, so uncomfortable that he would do anything to be rid of the situation. "I'm sorry, Mabel, but no. Why don't you show me how well you can dance and I'll watch?"

Mabel sighed, but didn't want to make Ford all squirmy again, so she smiled and squeezed his hand before letting go. "Okay." Mabel skipped off to the dancefloor and joined a woman who was twirling. Mable took her offered hand and they danced a little until Mabel jigged on her own and then weaved in and out with other dancers, going from partner to partner to the music.

Ford smiled and clapped along to the beat. He convinced himself that it was for the best that he didn't dance with her; he would have only slowed her down. Mabel was actually a very impressive dancer. She was no professional riverdancer by any means, but she was like Stan; she had fun and looked pretty good while doing it, but it was more important that she had fun.

When Mabel was done dancing they moved on. They saw weaved baskets, more landscapes, tie-dyed t-shirts and bandannas and flags, and one booth sold creepy zombie baby-dolls, but hey; art was art (at least that's what Mabel said when they cringed at a baby-doll with three heads glued together). Ford was admiring some grandfather clocks when he noticed Mabel's attention had been tightly grabbed. A skinny, graying ginger with a beard and braid that went to his lower abdomen was a shoe maker and specified in ballet slippers and tap shoes for river-dancing or salsa-dancing. Mabel had her eyes on one pair of shoes in particular. They were black tap-dance shoes with pink, sparkly tongues. There was only one pair and Mabel clearly wanted them, but she didn't look in any hurry to ask for them.

She didn't have to; Ford had brought Mabel to the arts-and-crafts fair with the intentions of getting her a gift, be it craft supplies or a piece of art. If Ford couldn't dance with her, he could get her dancing shoes. He approached the gentleman about his age and said, "Excuse me, sir, may my niece try on those shoes?"

The ginger with the long hair sniffed and said in a slight Canadian accent, "I don't think you want those, mister. They come at a terrible price."

"Anything for my pumpkin." Ford said and ruffled Mabel's hair.

She playfully swatted Ford's hand away as she blushed crimson over the affection and the gift and she teased, "Don't let Stan hear you say that."

"I need to work on my pitches." The ginger said under his breath, Ford and Mabel too oblivious to notice while the teenager tried the last pair on and hoped they would fit. "This should be a fun story to tell."

The shoes, luckily, were Mabel's size, and after clicking them happily, Ford paid for them and they left to find Dipper. Mabel refused to take her new shoes off until Ford pointed out that they might get dirty, so she quickly took them off and skipped with Ford to find Dipper as she thanked her grunkle a million times for the new shoes. Ford grinned and held her hand as they tracked Dipper back to the rose-gold haired girl and saw her write her phone-number on his hand.

Once back at the Mystery Shack, Stan heard all about the girl with rose-gold hair and the shoes. In the somewhat-clean house, Mabel changed shoes again and showed Stan her new tap shoes. He got an idea and pulled out one of his old records, and then popped in the record player. Jazz music played and Stan on the wooden floor of the living room and showed Mabel how to tap the floor along with the music with his brown shoes. Mabel grinned, took one of his hands, and copied him perfectly, both dancing happily.

Dipper and Ford watched until Mabel grabbed Dipper by both of his hands and had him dance with her. Dipper wasn't as good, but laughed the whole time and tapped his sneakers as best as he could. Mabel laughed and danced all around the floor with her family while Ford clapped along to the music and grinned.

Mabel decided to try again. "C'mon, Grunkle Ford, you're the only one missing!"

Ford put up his hands in defense and chuckled nervously. "No, thank you, dear."

"But no one's watching anymore." Mabel pointed out softly and held out her hand for Ford to take while Stan and Dipper kept on dancing along to the jazz.

Ford took a step back and shook his head as he chuckled again. "Someone should get started on dinner."

Mabel gave a defeated sigh and smiled. "Okay, but I'm gonna get you to dance with me one day."

"Ah, let the big baby go, Mabel." Stan said as he swung his hips to the music. "Ford's never been much fun. Why do you think he didn't get invited to many parties?"

"Har, har, Stanley." Ford said with a roll of his eyes and left for the kitchen.

Mabel was so proud of her new shoes that she didn't take them off when they finished dancing for dinner, for even for bed. She climbed into bed with her nightgown and tap shoes while Dipper laid on his cross-arms for an extra pillow and gave her a funny look.

"Mabel, isn't it uncomfortable to sleep in shoes?"

"Nope!" Mabel said optimistically as Waddles hopped up for bed. "Besides, why would I wanna take them off? Grunkle Ford gave them to me!"

"You'll change your mind once the adrenaline wears off." Dipper said and turned off the light.

Mabel slept peacefully, even having a weird but pleasant dream of ballroom dancing with the guy from the ten dollar bill, and woke up the next morning cheerfully. The minute she woke up, she had an urge to tap her feet and dance in her new shoes, so she hopped out of bed and thought she would do a quick tap to start the day and then get dressed for breakfast, but after that first tap she kept on dancing, kicking and even doing a turn, smiling, but when she tried to stop, Mabel found it hard, impossible even, to stop dancing.

"Uh, Dipper?" Mabel called as she tried to will her legs to stop moving. "Dipper!"

The boy sat up slowly and pinched at his eyes. "What?" He moaned.

""I can't stop dancing!"

"Is another boy-band coming into town?"

"No!" Mabel snapped and even tried to stomp on one foot and pin it down, but she couldn't control any of her feet to do so as they danced. "I _literally can't_ stop dancing!"

Dipper blinked into focus and got out of bed. He knelt in front of his sister and watched. He could tell that the legs were dancing hesitantly, but dancing they were nonetheless. "Incredible! Is it some sort of curse?"

Mabel tried to think. She didn't insult anyone lately. "I think… I think it's the shoes." She concentrated and found that her legs weren't necessarily moving, but the shoes were and moving her feet without her permission.

"The shoes Grunkle Ford bought for you? Well, try taking them off."

Mabel tried to sit on the bed, but the shoes wouldn't let her; they wouldn't even let her dance as she sat on the edge of her bed. Mabel tried to kick them off, but the shoes wouldn't budge. "They won't come off!"

Dipper got closer, but the shoes danced Mabel to the side and away from her brother. Dipper tried again, but Mabel's feet moved her to the closet.

"Uh, Invisible Wizard!" Mabel called as she looked at the closet door. "If you're there, mind giving me a hand?!"

"I got an idea." Dipper said and tossed Mabel her shooting star sweater. And purple shirt. "Try to get dressed. We need backup."

Mabel changed by slipping the clothes over her head and slipping them to their appropriate place and Dipper led the way out of their room. Mabel slowly followed him as she danced uncontrollably and they went to the gift shop of the Mystery Shack and were grateful when they found Soos getting ready to be Mr. Mystery for the day.

"Hey dudes!" Soos greeted. "Oo! Why's Mabel doing her dance? What's the excitement about?"

"She's wearing cursed shoes and we can't get them off." Dipper said. "Can you hold her for me so I can get them off of her?"

Soos shrugged and slipped off his jacket so he was only in his white shirt and black pants. "Sure, dawg. Big bear hug for the damsel in distress!" So quickly that the shoes didn't have time to react, Soos hugged Mabel from behind and picked her up so she was off the ground.

Mabel smiled a little at the hug, but panicked when the shoes still made her feet dance in mid-air, almost kicking Soos in the gut. Dipper quickly managed to grab one of her ankles, but the shoes still made her feet move powerfully and Dipper could hardly hold her still. Dipper grabbed the shoes with both hands and pulled with all his might, but the shoe wouldn't budge, like it was super-glued to Mabel's foot. Dipper almost had it, or at least he thought he did, when Mable's free foot kicked him right in the jaw and Dipper backed off.

"OW!"

"Oh my gosh, Dipper!" Mabel gasped and Soos let go of her and she danced by Dipper's side. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?!"

Dipper rubbed his chin and said with a smile. "Meh, you've kicked me harder before."

"Yeah, but back then you deserved it." Mabel groaned and grabbed her hair.

"What's going on here?" Stan asked as he, Ford, and Wendy walked in.

The three stared at Mabel's dancing and Dipper on his knees and rubbing a bruising chin and Soos trying to grab Mabel again, but she danced out of his reach.

"Grunkle Ford!" Mabel called over her tapping. "The shoes are cursed! I can't stop dancing!"

"Wait, seriously?" Wendy asked and pulled out her ax. "Just chop your feet off, dude."

"NO!"

Wendy laughed at the Pines men's yelling and Soos and Mabel's paling expressions and pocketed her ax. "I'm just kidding!" She laughed. "I've got a better idea."

Wendy took Mabel outside and tied a rope to a tree. She then somehow managed to tie Mabel's ankles together with the other end of the rope all by herself and she grabbed Mabel like she was a log and tugged. Mabel awkwardly let Wendy do what she needed to do to try to remove the shoes. The shoes refused to move and Wendy refused to give up, so she pulled until the tree was uprooted and Wendy had to untie Mabel and then explain to Stan why Soos would be too busy fixing a tree to be Mr. Mystery.

Stan had an idea and suddenly didn't mind being Mr. Mystery.

"Ladies and gentlemen," He announced to a tour-group a little after lunch. "For today and today only, I present to you a fairytale come to life! Behold!" Mr. Mystery pulled on a drawstring and a curtain to a little stage was pulled apart, revealing Mabel still dancing uncontrollably thanks to the cursed shoes. "The Unstoppable Dancer! Her shoes are magic and forbid her to stop dancing! Pay twenty bucks for a chance to try to take off her shoes! If you can remove the shoes, everything's 100% off!" Stan said as he pointed his eight-ball cane to a sign that said just that.

Mabel was frazzled and stressed over the idea of strangers suddenly grabbing at her feet, but luckily Soos stepped in as Mr. Mystery Jr. and led the group towards another attraction just in time, making Stan groan and claim that his plan would have worked.

Mabel was starting to suffer. Even after two glasses of Mabel Juice, she was very tired. She danced in the kitchen with Dipper sitting at the table as he tried to think of what to do. Mabel's hair was out of place and messy and she even began to have tears in her eyes as her feet and legs ached. She was starting to get an idea of how Gideon felt in Bill's cage.

"Dipper," Mabel whined. "I'm so tired…"

"I know, I know," Dipper said and punched his forehead to try to think. "Maybe…"

The door opened and they heard footsteps. Ford appeared at the doorway and said, "Mabel! There you are! I'm so sorry about all of this, but I think I know how to find the jerk who caused all of this! Come with me!"

Mabel went with Ford and together they went into the woods. All those years in the multiverse had taught Ford a thing or two about tracking, so while Wendy and Stan had tried to help Mabel out of the shoes, Ford had went back to town and did some investigating where the shoe cobbler might be. They went deep into the woods and stopped when they reached the Redwood Highway. Mabel and Ford both awed at a horse-drawn carriage that looked more like a tiny acorn-shaped house pulled by two black horses with white eyes. They snorted and scraped the dirt with their hooves coldly as the humans approached, but Ford grabbed Mabel's hand and helped her walk towards the carriage.

The old scientist banged a fist on the door of the door and barked, "Hey! Ginger! Open up! You got some explaining to do!"

A bang went off from inside and dark-blue glittery smoke exploded in the carriage. The top-half of the door opened and the old ginger coughed his lungs clean and lifted his small goggles up to his forehead. "Ugh! Oh, dear me, there goes my serum! And the name's not Ginger, lad, it's Kaelan! Kaelan of Kingston!"

"Yeah, yeah, nobody asked for your life story!" Ford snapped, taking a Stan-like approach over his Mabel getting cursed. "Listen, your shoes…"

"Oh, ho!" Kaelan said and peered down at Mabel as she kept on dancing. "Did you wear the shoes at the stroke of midnight?"

"I wore them to bed." Mabel tiredly.

"Yup, that'll do it, young one…"

"Please, how do I stop them?" Mabel begged. "I'm tired."

"Yeah, I bet." Kaelan said and crossed his arms over the top of the bottom half of his door. "Welp, it's simple enough really. The shoes are made with opti-magic."

"Opti-magic?" Ford repeated, having never heard of such a thing.

"It's magic based off of equality and what-not." Kaelan explained. "You can't get something from nothing, you know. Here, hold on…" Kaelan ducked his head and Ford and Mabel exchanged looks as they heard the screeching of a bird, rustled glass, and frustrated groans from Kaelan. He soon rose with a clipboard and a quill in hand and he asked Mabel, "Now, did you insult the shoes? Said they were stupid, or…"

"What, no!" Mabel said as she continued to dance. "I love them! Grunkle Ford gave them to me!"

Ford smiled proudly and turned his attention back to Kaelan, who was scribbling down with his quill.

"I see, I see. Did anyone around you insult dancing?"

"Insult dancing?"

"You know, said it was stupid or that the shoes were ugly?"

"No." Mabel thought about yesterday and racked her brain for anything Grunkle Stan might have said, but the brunette couldn't think of anything. Then again, she was so tired that it was hard to think clearly. "No, Stan and Dipper thought they were cool and danced with me. The only was who didn't dance with me was…"

"Me." Ford groaned and winced. Of course. So, not only had he bought the cursed shoes, but he had possibly activated a torturous curse.

"Oh, well, this is easy then." Kaelan said calmly and made some more notes. "All you've gotta do is dance with her."

"Does it have to be in front of anybody?" Mabel asked, remembering Ford's fear.

Ford looked back at her and smiled sadly. Only Mabel, while in pain and tired and cursed, would think of others and how the cure would affect them before acting on it.

"No, just us." Kaelan said and traded the clipboard and quill for a little black radio. He turned it on only to receive unholy screeching noises that made Ford and Mabel cover their ears. After a few punches, though, it played a country song, but Kaelan dialed it and searched for a new station. "Nope. We actually have standards." Kaelan found a station with a slow-paced song and he rested his elbows on the door. "Go ahead. Just dance together."

Mabel was still quickly tap-dancing behind Ford tiredly, but she smiled when he turned his back to Kaelan. Ford couldn't help but smile back. He still really didn't want to dance in front of Mabel and Kaelan, or even at all for that matter, but Ford wanted to help Mabel, and if that meant dancing with her…

Ford held out his polydactyl hand to his niece and even bowed a little to her. Mabel grinned and took his hand. Ford knew he couldn't dance like Mabel was right now, tap-dancing so quickly it looked like she had four legs, but he could start with a two-step and work his way up. Ford held her hand and wrapped his free hand around her shoulders. He took one step back, one step forward, counting the seconds so it went with the beat of the music.

Mabel grinned and cheered, "Hey! You're doing great!"

"Shh, Mabel," Ford requested quietly. "I need to count."

Mabel laughed and hugged her uncle. "Don't count. Just dance with me!"

Ford followed Mabel's lead (or the shoes' lead) and she took a step back to hold his hands. She pulled one hand and pushed the other, twisting their bodies, and Ford grinned and did the same. Mabel nodded and Ford even freed a hand to spin her. Mabel laughed as her hair flew beautifully and happily let her grunkle dip her and sway as they held hands. She didn't even notice that her steps were slowing down.

"See? You're great at this!"

"Thank you, Mabel. I learned from the best."

Mabel giggled. "Why are you afraid of dancing, anyway?" She asked softly.

Ford gave it some thought, but then shrugged as they danced. He honestly didn't know why. Maybe because Stan was always better at dancing? Maybe because every girl Ford had asked to dance in school had turned him down? Maybe because he was paranoid that, along with being born with twelve fingers, he had been born with two left feet? No one, not even Ford, knew why Stan had been afraid of heights since he was a kid. Maybe Ford would never really understand his own fear of dancing.

Mabel let go of Ford's hands to hug him and sway with him to the music. "Well, thanks for dancing with me, Grunkle Ford."

Ford smiled affectionately down at her and gently brushed her long brown hair with one hand, the other around her shoulders. "Thank you, Mabel, for making sure I came home."

They swayed for another minute or so, their eyes closed as they hugged and danced until the song faded and was replaced with a commercial. Kaelan turned off the radio and Ford and Mabel looked down at the magic shoes. She was standing still!

"It worked!" The Pines cheered.

"I told you it would." Kaelan said and whistled. The shoes flew off Mabel's standing feet and made her fall on her face, but the shoes hopped up to the carriage and landed in a shoe-box Kaelan had ready for them. "Would you like some potions for any blisters you might have?"

"No, thank you." Ford growled as he picked Mabel up and carried her away from the odd cobbler. "Let's get you home, my dear."

Ford heard a snore as he walked and looked down at his shoulder. He smiled and rubbed Mabel's back when he saw that she had fallen asleep.

* * *

Mabel went downstairs for a glass of water. The nap had helped, but she was still tired from dancing for seven hours straight. She hummed to herself as she poured herself a glass of water and she smiled when she saw Ford in the living room, reading a book in Stan's chair.

"Hi, Grunkle Ford!" Mabel said and folded her arms over one of the armrests as she stood by the chair's left side.

Ford closed his book and smiled. "Hello, Mabel. Are you feeling alright?"

"Yup!" Mabel said cheerfully.

"Good." Ford's smile dropped and he added, "I want to apologize for all the trouble I have caused you."

"Are you kidding? It was totally worth it! I got to dance with my favorite hug-monster!" Mabel cheered.

Ford chuckled and got an idea. He stood up and picked a record from Stan's stack and put it in the player. He turned the music on and cleared his throat nervously. "I thought it would be nice to dance because we want to and not to undo a curse."

Mabel grinned, left her empty glass on the floor by the chair, and went into Ford's arms. They didn't really do any tap-dances or moves; they only held each other as they swayed in a circle along to the old jazz record. That was okay, more than okay. It was perfect. Ford even treated Mabel and picked her up. She giggled quietly and hugged him around the neck while he kept her close and swayed them both. He was excited to get even closer with her this summer.


End file.
